Imaginary Numbers
by Regiss
Summary: Xion lives in a world of another's creation and doesn't even know it. Her life is simply a series of imaginary numbers imprinted in her mind, but if she knew the truth would she have it any other way? All that matters is this moment. Remember the Tides spinoff, collected oneshots of Xion's life in the virtual Twilight Town.
1. Of Math and Museums

_I think this requires some backstory. While writing the opening chapters of _The Tides Go Out_, I found I had a surprising amount of fun with the slice of life style. So I came up with this. Unlike the main story, _Imaginary Numbers_ is not a priority of mine; I'll just write when something comes to me. Chapter length is going to vary and most will probably be oneshots, with only a few connecting to each other. This is largely an experiment, as this type of story is not something I'm used to. My only experience with it so far has been _TTGO._ But I hope you enjoy it all the same._

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**Of Math and Museums**

Xion spun her pencil around in her hand, flipping it through her slender fingers. She gnawed slightly on her lower lip, her face contorted in thought as she stared at the paper in front of her. It was blank of any pencil marks except for her name in the corner. Her eyes ran over the numbers and shapes on the sheet and she tilted her head as if that would suddenly make them understandable. Letting out a low groan under her breath, Xion leaned backwards, her black hair brushing against the neck of the boy behind her.

"How's it going on your end, Xion?" Roxas asked with a laugh. Xion was sitting sideways on the couch in the Usual Spot, using Roxas as support for her back while he sat normally on the old green cushion. The whole gang had gathered after school to do their homework, Dodger included—the always-cool dog was sleeping in the corner.

"Geometry's beyond me," Xion replied. She stretched her legs out, tugging down on her white skirt as she did so (not that it mattered, since she wore leggings anyway).

"I could tutor you." Xion glanced over to Olette, who was reading. Her backpack was sitting by her feet, all zipped up and neat. She had finished her homework in class during their free time. Free time that Xion had spent chatting with Roxas and listening to Powerline's newest song.

Eye to Eye was one of his best, by the way.

"Thanks, but I mean…" Xion shrugged. "I _get it_, I just…don't want to do it, you know?" She knew that was hardly a good work ethic and wouldn't get her far in life, but she _also_ knew geometry would barely come up in her future.

Olette shrugged. "Suit yourself. My offer's always open."

Hayner spoke up now, irritation in his voice. "Hey, how come Xion gets a free pass? If it had been me saying that, you'd be all up un my face about it!"

"Well, do you feel the same way Hayner?"

Xion wisely tuned out Olette and Hayner before the inevitable argument between them began. She turned back to her paper, twirling the pencil once again as she ran over the problems once more. "'Name the three secondary trigonometric ratios'…" she mumbled under her breath. She stopped spinning the pencil and pressed its tip against the paper, but didn't write anything.

Roxas turned his head, attracted to Xion's problem by her grumbling. "What happened to knowing it getting it but not wanting to do it?"

"Okay, so maybe I don't get _all_ of it," Xion grumbled and tilted her head back to look at him. "Mr. Minamimoto is going to kill me."

Roxas smirked. "Some Of Her Children Are Having Trouble Over Algebra" he said, repeating one of their math teacher's favorite phrases.

"Don't give me that SOHCAHTOA stuff. That's not even relevant to this." She tilted her head and turned the paper. "…I think."

Roxas shrugged. "Sorry. I'm not much help with math either."

Xion groaned and tossed the paper into the air. She leaned back against Roxas's side again as the paper caught on a stray breeze and floated down to rest on Dodger's head. The dog glanced up at it and then went back to sleep, and Xion could almost swear he shrugged.

"If this was psychology I wouldn't have a problem."

Roxas chuckled. "I don't think I've ever heard someone prefer _psychology_ over any other class."

"Or art. History. Just not _math_."

When Xion finally turned her attention back to the others, the Hayner and Olette's argument had somehow shifted topics completely. Pence was checking something on his phone while Hayner and Olette were waiting for him to do something.

"Found it!" Pence held his phone closer to read the small font. "'The Museum of Myth and History funded by Xanatos Enterprises opens this Saturday. The museum has received some controversy for focusing largely on the former myths over Twilight Town's history, but Xanatos Enterprises CEO and founder of the museum David Xanatos states that plenty of history museums exist as it is.'" Pence looked up at Hayner. "Is this what you were looking for?"

"Yup, that's it."

Xion frowned. "Why does _Hayner_ want to go to a museum?"

He shrugged. "They're hiring night time security guards."

"And you think they're going to let a student take that job?"

Hayner looked away. He obviously hadn't considered that. "Well, maybe if I fudge the numbers a little."

"You _cannot_ be serious," Olette said.

Xion frowned and tuned them out again, knowing another argument was coming. She leaned over the side of the couch and picked her homework up from Dodger's head. She spun her pencil around in her hand, flipping it through her slender fingers, and gnawed slightly on her lower lip, her face contorted in thought as she stared at the numbers and shapes in front of her.

Sometimes she wondered if she couldn't get a bit more excitement in her life.


	2. Bus Stop Companion

**Bus Stop Companion**

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

Footsteps pounded on the paved stone in rapid succession, hurrying down the empty streets of Twilight Town. Minutes ago they had been full of the usual bustle and hustle of an early spring weekend, but that changed quickly. Boots colored white and yellow splashed at puddles with every step, sending up droplets of water that soaked through her black leggings. Not that the rain needed much help.

Xion had been walking home from Kronk's diner when the rain had started. It hadn't been entirely unexpected, it was a cloudy day, but of course Xion didn't have an umbrella on her. Why would she do something that made sense? So when Twilight Town suddenly shifted from a bright, if cloudy, day to a torrential downpour, she was caught in the middle as the streets cleared out. So now she ran up the mountainside roads of the city hoping to find some sort of shelter from the storm.

Xion rounded the corner and the clouds may as well have parted to shine down upon what she saw, she was so glad. It was…a bus stop—a tiny bus stop. But that wasn't important; what was important was it had a ceiling. Shelter! Her energy renewed, Xion sprinted forward to her newfound haven, feet splashing in growing puddles all the way.

"Finally!" Xion shouted when she came under the cover of the bus stop's ceiling. It was a rather loud shout, but she didn't care. Beautiful, _beautiful _dryness! She eyed the graffiti on the inner walls of the bus stop as she sat down on the creaking metal bench and pulled her hood down. A quick run through her hair with her pale fingers told Xion that the hood hadn't exactly been much help. Not that she needed to feel it to know that, though, since she could see the strands of hair dangling in front of her eyes and dripping water onto her lap.

Xion took her jacket off and stared at it in her hands. There was much more water than fabric there. Setting that aside next to her, Xion moved to inspect her white shirt. Luckily, unlike her hair, while her shirt was wet to some extent the jacket did protect it from the elements for the most part. Good thing, too; that could have been a real disaster.

"Downpour."

Xion jumped and an embarrassingly schoolgirl-sounding "Eep!" escaped her lips. She hadn't noticed anyone else in the bus stop when she had come inside, but the voice spoke up from beside her, not from the doorway. Turning to her right, Xion saw a familiar figure sitting on the other end of the old bench.

"Fuu?"

The quiet albino girl nodded, glancing at Xion with her eerie red eyes. Like Xion, she was soaking wet; unlike Xion, she hadn't taken off her own jacket. The blue material was darker than normal as the water soaked into its threads. Xion forced a smile. She didn't dislike Fuu, but it was always awkward around her. She barely said a word and most of the time the two of them saw one another was when Hayner and Seifer were having another argument.

"Hey," Xion said in what she hoped was a friendly tone. "I guess you don't have an umbrella either, huh?"

Fuu's only reply was a silent nod, and Xion sighed inwardly. Conversation with this girl was never easy. When it became evident that Fuu wasn't going to speak up much more, Xion turned toward the glass walls of the bus stop and watched the raindrops hit the window. The rain was a curtain, obscuring Xion's vision of everything just a few yards out from their small shelter. She hadn't seen a storm like this in a long time; the last time must have been when she was very young, seven or eight years old, and spending the night at Olette's. The thunder had scared her pretty badly back then.

"_Do you want me to call Roxas?"_ That's what she had asked while picking up the phone in her kitchen. Even as a little girl Olette was more insightful than the others; Xion hadn't even noticed at the time how calm she was whenever Roxas was around, but Olette had picked up on it right away. Still, though, eight-year-old Xion had adamantly decided that she was fine in the storm—before a booming thunderclap made her drop her drink in surprise. To this day Olette's mom still didn't know what had happened to that glass cup.

_I should have planned on this and brought an umbrella_, Xion thought as she watched the storm rage on outside. Actually, an umbrella probably wouldn't do much good. She'd need a heavy raincoat in something like this. Still, if Xion had thought ahead then she'd be snug at home right now, drinking something warm. Oh man, Dodger was probably freaked out at the lightning and thunder too, now that she thought about it. Her parents were still at work so he was home all alone.

"Friends coming?" Xion jumped slightly, surprised at Fuu's soft voice. She glanced beside her again, where Fuu hadn't budged an inch. She was speaking to Xion while still looking out at the rain. "Well?"

"Do you mean are my friends coming out here?" A barely visible nod. Xion shook her head. "I don't think so. None of them know I'm out here. I suppose I could call them, but I wouldn't be surprised if my phone is busted from all this water." Xion paused as a thought occurred to her. "What about you, Fuu?"

Fuu looked at Xion for a moment, her visible eye only slight larger than normal. Then she turned away and stared at her hands in her lap.

"No." She shook her head. "Searching for Rai."

"Oh," Xion said simply. "You were looking for Rai out here when the storm began?" Another nod. "Well wouldn't Seifer want you to come back in a storm like this, to be safe?"

"Pigheaded."

Xion nearly choked on laughter that suddenly bubbled up. Did _Fuu_ just call Seifer pigheaded? Yeah he was, but it was weird to hear one of his own Disciplinary Committee members be the one to say it. Maybe Fuu wasn't so bad after all.

"I know the type. Loud, obnoxious, always thinks he knows best…" Xion caught Fuu barely crack a smile at the description. Hayner or Seifer, who could it be? Xion felt her own lips curl up slightly. She turned her body fully to Fuu instead of just her head, though Fuu didn't respond in kind. "Let me guess: Seifer has some insane plan that will never work out, and he's dragging you guys into it?"

Fuu nodded and looked up at Xion. Yes, she was _definitely_ smiling.

"Already did. Mud bombs." Wow, that was probably the most Xion had heard Fuu say at one second. "Backfired."

Wait, backfired mud bombs? So Seifer was covered in…? Xion's eyes widened and then she broke into laughter, and a moment later she realized Fuu had joined her.

The rain didn't seem so bad anymore.


End file.
